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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I register to be an organ and tissue donor?
You can register to be an organ and tissue donor by checking the box on your driver’s license or state ID card application. In some states, like Minnesota and North Dakota, you can register to be a donor online. In other states, like South Dakota, you can register by mail. Click here to learn how to register in your state, and be sure to share your decision with your family.

Why should I register as a donor?
There are people in our community who are waiting for a life‐saving organ transplant and you have the power to help them. nearly 3,200 of our neighbors in the Upper Midwest are waiting for a transplant and the situation nationally is even more desperate, with over 113,000 people waiting for a transplant and nearly 18 people dying each day for lack of an organ.

What are the benefits of organ and tissue donation?
Families who make the decision to extend the gift of life often find that donation helps them through their grieving process. Donation is something positive that can come from the death of a loved one. One person can save or enhance up to 60 lives through organ and tissue donation.

What can be donated?
Organs: Heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and intestines.
Tissue: Skin, veins, tendons, bone, heart valves and connective tissue.
Eyes: Whole eye or cornea.

What are the criteria for becoming an organ and tissue donor?
Organs and tissues can only be donated after death. Age and health criteria are evaluated on an individual basis at the time of death, and everyone should consider themselves a potential organ and tissue donor.

Will my family have to pay for the cost of my organ and/or tissue donation?
There is no cost to the donor or the donor’s family for donation. All expenses related to organ and tissue donation are paid by LifeSource and passed on to the transplant recipients and their health insurers.

How are organs distributed to patients waiting for organ transplants?
Every person waiting for an organ transplant is registered with UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing. LifeSource works with UNOS to fairly allocate organs based upon medical urgency, genetic matching and length of time waiting.

Will the identity of the organ donor be revealed to the transplant recipient?
The identities of both the recipient and the donor family are confidential. The LifeSource coordinator sends a letter to the donor family informing them about the organ recipients such as their age and sex, and how their health has improved. Some donor families and recipients correspond anonymously. On occasion, when both sides wish to correspond directly or meet, LifeSource will help facilitate the communication or meeting.

Why should minorities be especially concerned?
Some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver are found more frequently in certain racial and ethnic populations. Transplants between people who are strong genetic matches is generally more successful. Recipients have a better chance of finding a match from their same racial group. Approximately 50 percent of all people on the waiting list are minorities while only 25 percent of all donors are minorities.